Checking in on my 30 in 30

1. Have a Baby! ... Done! 

2. Go fishing and catch something... not yet, maybe this summer

3. Try (really try) to enjoy our last winter in Montana. ... I'm trying, so hard, but it's so cold!

4. Go to at least one national park. ... Plans for this summer!

5. Loose the baby weight, however much it may be. ... Just started working on this and then I got sick. Starting again maybe today or tomorrow.

6. Learn to play my Ukulele. ... not yet, but my daddy tuned it. 

7. Knit cute winter clothes for baby. ... nope

8. Grow my hair out, at least enough for a ponytail. ..I had little pig tails, but I cut them off, trying to cut out icky yuck hair. 

9. Dye it pink again. ... maybe next year. 

10. Learn to coupon. ... I've been couponing, sometimes. 

11. Get family portraits done. ...Done! We did our newborn shots and there are a few of the three of us. 

12. Boost my blog following (Ideas on how to do this are welcome) ... This is an ongoing process, as usual.

13. Get my FASFA done. ...School just isn't happening not this year

14. Register for fall classes.  ... see above

15. Walk the dogs more often. ... I was doing okay on this, then it got cold and the dogs don't like the cold. 

16. Either a. learn blog layout design, or b. pay someone to make me a new blog. ... I think I am going to pay for one next month. 

17. Get rid of HUGE amounts of our stuff to prep for moving next winter. ...This has been happening, and it feels great! 

18. Re-read Harry Potter. ... Not yet, but I did get the bluray box set and watched every single one!

19. Go hiking again. ... again not yet, it wasn't possible while I was prego, I was in too much pain, but I have been cleared for a month now, so as soon as it warms up!

20. DIY decor for babys room via pinterest ideas. I have started this, I'll post as soon as I get her room set up! 

21. Knit two baby blankets (0/2) one is started! 

22. Visit my sister in Albuquerque Not yet! maybe in the fall though. 

23. Learn some photo editing software ... I doubt this will happpen

24. Stop being a recluse.  ...This has gotten worse since baby. 

25. Have friends over for a BBQ.... I had a baby shower at my house, not a BBQ but still had people over!

26. Cook more & Eat out less. ... Since Evey this is the norm now, I cook almost every night.

27. Remember birthdays/ holidays and send out cards on time. ...This will never happen, anyone who expects it to should lower their expectations of me :) 

28. Get better at keeping up with the housework. ...Soon, I swear. 

29. Take lots of FUN pictures of our little girl!... This I do, I take lots and lots of pictures of her. 

30. Thrift more.... I have donated more to thrift stores, I think that counts. 

So 8 out of 30, not bad for me! and I still have plenty of time, I know I won't finish, like the school thing, or going to Albuquerque before July, but I can really make a dent in this list! 

I cracked the code!

I am sure simply by writing about this I am going to jinx it and tomorrow will be a total fail. But...

I cracked Evey's nap time code!

Since the beginning I've just let Evey do what she wants, she eats when she wants, she sleeps when she wants, except at night, she sleeps at night when we do, but through the day she does what she wants when she wants to. 

Until recently she has napped a few hours a day. Since her shots two weeks ago those naps have all but stopped, she cat naps, but we haven't had very many big naps. So mommy gets nothing done. 

I'll have to start with Monday, Monday she was a little sick, and had a fever most of the night (more on that later.) Tuesday I was tired and I had gotten nothing done. I had spent most of monday night watching You Tube videos to stay awake while monitoring Evey's fever. I mostly watched HannainJapana who is an American girl who married a Japanese National and has a baby. She posts a lot about parenting as an American in Japan. 

Well anyway, in one of her videos, She was nursing her daughter to sleep, and she was sitting in a dark room. Duh, I know, dark room, but for some reason it never occurred to me. I would just nurse her sitting on the couch and put her into her rock and play and then go about my day until she woke up. And lately that's been about 15-20 min at a time. 

But Hanna gave me the great idea of trying it in a dark room. Plus I can get more done and make more noise cleaning when I have her in another room. So first I just put her town in her pack in play in the dark, and that didn't work. So I put the iPod on Pandora on the lullaby channel, and it still didn't work. So I swaddled her, and nursed her until she fell asleep, then rather than put her into her pack and play I just put her in the middle of our bed.

It was like magic. Yesterday she slept 3 hours, and I had to wake her to eat, today she slept 2 1/2 until I dropped something and made a huge racket. 

It was awesome. 

And I got so much done. 

So now we have 2pm nap time. I hope it continues to be a success. 

- Alana

These are a few of my favorite things

There are a few things that I really like about the house we are living in now. 

 We have a really cool view. That out there is a mining headframe, which is a tower above an underground mine shaft. They are used to hoist things from inside the mine. 

Trees! We have trees! And they are pine trees! 

I love the sound of the wind through pine trees, it's got to be one of my favorite sounds ever. 

Also behind that tree is a little park, how cute is that?

There is a lot of history up here too, Walkerville is part of the historic mining town from the late 1800's and a lot of the buildings and houses around us are very, very old. We are only about a mile away from Historic Downtown Butte. It's really cool being surrounded by all this history, I can't wait to learn more. 

another thing I really like is the smaller back yard with a built in firepit. Come this summer I am hoping we will get lots of use out of it. 

I like that the yard is smaller, so I have less of a yard to chase the dogs through, but they still have enough room to run around. 

another tree!

So we are really settling in here, and really liking the place. 

But I am also really looking forward to moving out of Montana at the end of the year, hopefully before it gets shitty and cold again. I am looking forward to summer, a lot goes on in Butte, specifically in downtown Butte, and we are in just up the hill, about a mile, totally in walking distance. 

Another exciting thing about this area, is that it's hilly, so that'll be great for walking and exercising.

One small thing that worries me is stray (or unleashed & unsupervised) dogs, there are quite a few we've seen around. Renji is still traumatized from being attacked a two summers ago, and has fear based agression (we've done a lot of training, but it's still a problem). It's hard to take him around other dogs, because he has a tendency to flip out. He's never attacked anyone, but he acts agressive and just flips out, Thankfully he's only 18 pound so I can easily restrain him. But around an unleashed dog, his behavior could lead to us being attacked. 

But we'll just have to see, there are also several walking paths that would likely be safer with the doggies and Evey. 

So this summer look forward to some posts of adventures through my neighborhood. 

- Alana

Happies & Crappies

Happies: 

1. The new house is really nice, and everyone seems to be settling in nice. 

2. Being a mommy is so much fun, But at the same time, it's not that difficult, it all seems so natural. 

3. Friday = Breakfast for dinner. And I think that it's going to become a tradition, because I love bacon. 

Crappies: 

1. I'm struggling with a cold and I feel like poo.

2. I've fallen into a blogging slump, I don't know what to write about, living in a new town, and it's cold, I just don't get out much, I have no life to write about. 

3. It's cold, and I'm over it. 

- Alana

Evelyn: 10 weeks

This happy little peanut turned 10 weeks old today! 

Evey is just adorable. She is so perfect, and so easy. She's always so happy! 

We've been spending quite a bit of time at home this week, Daddy was sick last week, now I am sick. So we've been hanging out at the house, staying out of trouble. And trying to keep from getting sicker. 

Photobombed by a dog, but we have cute sheep slippers so it's okay.

This week we cranked the heater, put on our tank top, and pretended it was summer.

and it was wonderful!

This Week:

Evey smiles when she sees mommy

Her hand is her favorite chew toy

Sleep has been really messed up since shots last week

Naps haven't happened all week either

Weeks:
Seven-Eight-Nine
Six

Five

Four

Three

Two

One

- Alana

2 Months!

On Valentines day, my Valentine turned 2 monts old!

If she didn't come out of me, I'd wonder if she was really mine. 

she looks like Patton Oswalt here

I see it now, when people say she looks like Paul. I see it. But I don't see me. 

except she has lots of dark hair, which I had

Paul says she pouts like me. 

Oh and those toes, she has my toes. My fat little sausage toes. 

This month Evey Likes: 

Laughing with you

Chewing on her hands

Showers

Sleeping in

Being held upright

Evey Dislikes: 

Pacifiers

Socks 

Her Carseat

For her 2 month birthday we drove back up to Helena to see the doctor.

Poor Evey got her 2 month shots. She looks much happier in these pictures than she was most of the day.
She weighed in at 10 pounds 11 oz, 23 1/2 inches long. 

The story behind this dress is that when my mom was about 2 months pregnant with me she was shopping with Paul's mom Mary, and baby Paul. She bought it and didn't even know she was having a girl. 

You can see here me wearing it with my dad and his bad ass mustache and his super cool aviators! 

Oh the 80's, you gave me the coolest looking dad of them all. 

Dear Evelyn, 

  So much has changed in the last month. You have become so active, you wiggle and squirm all the time. You are getting so big. Every time I look at you my heart melts. Sometime in the last month you have become more real, not that you weren't before, but somehow you are starting to sink in. That you are mine, I am solely responsible for you (well me and your dad). I love you so much and I would do anything for you. You are still sleeping most of the night but you are mostly awake during the day. And you are so much fun when you are awake, you interact with us so much, giggling and grabbing at our hands. I love holding you each day and making you laugh. Your laugh really is the cutest thing I have ever seen. 

You are getting so much bigger too. I sort of wish I could stop time, freeze this day and just stay here forever. You are just so perfect, and so happy!  I can't wait for your giggles. When you wake up in the morning and look at me and smile it makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. Every day I look forward to making you smile. As much as I want to freeze time, I just can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.

-Mommy

Evelyn 7-8-9 weeks

These weekly updates are late because of our moving. But we are settled enough now that I can sit down and post them. The pictures were taken at the right time though, At least I got that done. 

7 Weeks: 

her hair in this picture is hilarious!

working on holing my head up

yay for 7 weeks! 

This week: 

Evey moved into her second home

She accompanied mom to the salon, where she cried the whole time

8 Weeks:

so many smiles this week

Can you spot all 4 mammals in this picture?

Renji is her protector

This week:

Evey can almost sit up (while propped up) without tipping over

Mommy started pumping a little so daddy can give the occasional bottle. 

9 Weeks: 

more naps with daddy

My first Valentines day! 

Now I smile all the time!

This week: 

Evey had her 2 month check up

She got her 2 month shots :( 

First Valentines day! 

- Alana